We’re looking forward to introducing you to Joy Fire. Check out our conversation below.
Good morning Joy, it’s such a great way to kick off the day – I think our readers will love hearing your stories, experiences and about how you think about life and work. Let’s jump right in? What is a normal day like for you right now?
Aside from everything else I do, I am first and foremost the mother of two young kids. My daughter is two years old and my son is almost 7 months. So right now a normal day is very much centered around them! In the morning we go to an early learning program or a library story time, then home for lunch and nap, then maybe art or playing in the backyard or walking to the park, and maybe I can fit in a visit to the gym where they get to play in the kid zone. In between all of that is a lot of crying, laughing, a surprising amount of deep and interesting conversations with a two year old, and more television watching than I would really prefer. If I get both of them to sleep at the same time for nap I get a precious hour or two to myself to work on some blacksmithing planning, drawing, or making stained glass in my garage. My son is napping on me and my daughter is asleep in her room right now. On one day a week I teach welding and occasionally get some other work done. That work day is really my day off!
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Joy Fire, and aside from being a mom I am a blacksmith, artist, designer, welder, and teacher. Recently I published my first book! Contemporary Blacksmithing for Beginners, available now for preorder and in stores January 28th. I have a small blacksmithing and metal fabrication shop where I get to forge and fabricate whatever my customers or myself dream up. A blacksmith is a unique occupation, but it really is more modern than you might think, and occupies a very useful roll even in today’s society. It is valuable to have a small scale artistically minded metal shop where you can get unique work made, or small repairs done on metal pieces you already have. A large fabrication shop couldn’t do what I do because it would be too expensive. I love being able to work on one or maybe two projects at a time, so I can really devote my full attention to them.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What was your earliest memory of feeling powerful?
I have an early memory of empowerment in my childhood garage. My sisters and I were always very creative and loved to make up our own games and stories. One game we often played was survivor Barbie! The story might change, but somehow or other our Barbie dolls always ended up stranded in the wilderness and having to survive on their own. Since they usually came with dresses that were entirely impractical for such adventures we sewed them pants and other more useful attire. We also built them more and more extensive shelters in which to live. I don’t remember what it was I needed exactly, but I was trying to make something out of a nail in our garage. We had a limited work bench with scattered tools, but one of them was a saw with a metal cutting blade. I remember cutting the head off a nail and feeling an incredible sense of awe and empowerment. If I could cut metal I could do anything! Looking back now I consider that to be the start of my journey as a metal artist.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
There was a time in my 20’s (I’m in my mid 30’s now) when I was going through an identity crisis and was quite depressed. For a long time being a blacksmith was a core part of my identity. Forging was something I really loved, but that love was a double edged sword. It meant that when I made a mistake, or didn’t have enough work to pay the bills, or even when I saw beautiful work that other people made, I saw myself as a failure. Not just a failure as a blacksmith, but a failure as a person. Working with a therapist and taking medication (which I still take) really helped, but I had to go through a process of letting go of “being a blacksmith” in order to be able to be a blacksmith in a healthy way. Sometimes you have to be willing to let something go in order to have a healthier relationship with it.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What do you believe is true but cannot prove?
I have this theory that people NEED to work with their hands. My theory comes from thinking about ancient humans and how we survived and were successful as a species. One of the big parts of our success was from our tool making, right? I imagine that the way we improved our tools and thought of new ones was a lot of fiddling and tinkering and having an idea and then figuring out how to make it happen. So we evolved to have a positive relationship with these kinds of activities. Even though we are not making tools for hunting or farming or something anymore, I think our brain still rewards activities that activate similar parts of our brains. Even if we aren’t making tools for survival, just painting figurines or crocheting, I think doing these things makes us happier, healthier people. But if you are so privileged as to get to try forging, to use fire and strength of your arms to change the shape of iron, those brain chemicals are going to fire off the charts!
Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. When do you feel most at peace?
When I am in the middle of making something. The planning stage can be hard and frustrating, and finishing something comes with the slight energy drop of no longer having it to drive you. But right in the middle, when you are in the flow of the work and things are coming together, that is a sweet spot. Interestingly I can also achieve a similar mental state when I am playing at the park with my kids and the weather is perfect and the wind is cool and the sunset is just right. Or snuggling with my son in the morning when dad is with my daughter and it’s just the two of us. Or a million other moments with my two precious little gremlin goofballs!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://joyfireblacksmith.com
- Instagram: joyfire
Image Credits
Pierce Valenzuela
